Angel in Training
by agent000
Summary: Sequel to The Wooden Doll. I may technically be an angel now, but I still have a human heart. You can't expect me to attend to my duties and just ignore my little brother. Angel or not, it's not going to happen.
1. Chapter 1

**_Yes, Yes, forgive me for starting yet another story without finishing the older ones. My spirit guide was being a little pest and really wanted this story written, heh. After all, it's kind of his. He was mostly responsible for the original story, "The Wooden Doll" as well, so you can blame it on him. I was going to put this one off until I'd finished a couple of my other stories, but he was being a pest, so I had to give in, hehe. He really wanted to write a story, so I guess I can give him that much. Hope you enjoy it._**

**_Disclaimer: What? You think I own Fullmetal Alchemist? Excuse me...((walks off laughing into the sunset))_**

Creak. Creak. "Al? Winry?"

Creak. Creak. Creak. "Allll…Winreeee…I'm baaaack…Where are you?"

A stifled yawn from behind him made Ed spin around and peer through the darkness to identify the source of the noise. A very tired-looking girl was standing in the doorway, leaning on the doorjam, offering a sleepy smile. "Winry?"

"Hey Ed," she replied.

"Wh-What's the matter?" said Ed as he cautiously moved toward the girl, "Is something wrong?"

Winry shook her head and brought up her hand to stifle another yawn. "It's just really late. We didn't expect you were coming back today."

"I told you I would."

She shrugged. "I know, but it got really late. We figured you must have lost track of time."

Ed reached back and scratched the back of his head. "I guess I did at that." He casually glanced around the room for a brief moment. The moon was peeking through the window, illuminating half of everything. When he'd left, it had been morning. He hadn't thought he'd been away that long. Where did the time go?

"Hey, Winry," another sleepy voice called from the nearby hallway, "What's the matter?"

The girl shook her head again and said, "Nothing. Ed just came back."

Soon excited footsteps were heard approaching the room, and another tired-looking face peered through the doorway. A smile crossed the newcomer's lips. "Brother, you're back! What kept you?"

Ed shrugged and continued looking around the house in a sense of bewilderment. Seriously, he had never felt this disconnected from time before. "I don't know, Al…I was just given a short lecture on basic angel behavior and then released…and then…it was dark…"

Al smirked and leaned further into the room so that the moon illuminated his face. "No concept of time in that dimension?"

Ed did a sort of half-chuckle and shrugged. "I guess."

The younger brother then took a couple steps into the room while stifling yet another yawn and then flicked on the light. "Brother, sit," he said as he motioned with his hand to the couch, "I want to hear about your day."

Ed smiled and did as he was requested, and was soon joined by both Al and Winry, who were leaning forward as if quite eager to hear whatever he had to tell them.

"Well…" said Ed as he once again scratched the back of his head, "There isn't that much to tell…"

"Go on," said Al, apparently completely ignoring that last statement.

Ed put his finger on his chin in an attempt to think. "Um…I was mostly coached on how to function as an angel…traveling between dimensions, flying, becoming visible or invisible at will…stuff like that."

"Really? Sounds interesting. What else?" said Winry.

"…If we're not forbidden to know," added Al, casting a glare at Winry, who wriggled a bit in her seat.

Edward observed this non-verbal banter between the two and chuckled a bit. "No, there's nothing confidential yet."

"That's good," said Al, smiling.

"So what else?" said Winry with a note of impatience in her voice.

"Uh, well…they said that they don't get premature trainees often, so they don't even know where I belong." He cleared his throat. "I'm going to have to apprentice for every kind of angel there is until I find one that just 'clicks'."

"Wow…that's go to be rough…" said Al, thoughtfully.

"Maybe," said Ed with a shrug, "But I'll deal with it just fine. It's better than being a wooden doll." Ed laughed at the bizarre memory of the past few weeks. "I really do appreciate your wishing me into becoming an angel, Al."

Al smiled. "I'm glad. I hope you find the peace you're looking for."

Just then, the clock chimed ten o' clock. Ed jumped up in a fright. "Oh geez, it's ten already?" He turned to head out of the room, but Al had quickly jumped up before he'd gotten very far.

"Wait, Brother…where are you going?"

Ed stopped and turned to face Al. "My first assignment was to go back to that man who owned the toy shop and make amends. They told me to train under Mom for this assignment, which means I have to do it TODAY, her being a Christmas angel…but there are only two hours left of Christmas."

"Then you'd better get going," said Al, placing his hand in the small of Ed's back and giving him a gentle push. "You don't have time to sit around and chat right now, but you can come back later and tell us all about it."

"Oh, so you're kicking me out now?" Ed said a bit sarcastically.

"Yes," said Winry, "But you'd better come back and tell us all about it or I'll go to Heaven and abduct you, just like when you were a doll."

Ed took on a mischievous grin. "And just how would you get there?"

Winry took on an even more mischievous grin and folder her arms across her chest. "Just try me."

"Okay, okay, I'm going, I'm going!" said Ed as he was hurriedly pushed out the door. Once outside, he turned back around to glance at the house one more time. He shook his head. Those two were crazy. Then he took a deep breath and launched himself into the air.

"What the h---" Ed quickly clamped his mouth shut and shook his head. In the lecture, he had been reprimanded pretty harshly on his choice of language and told to straighten up. Angels don't use foul language, they'd said, and they especially don't take God's name in vain. Ed had sneered at first when he'd hear that comment, and was promptly slapped across the face. Ed now rubbed the sore spot on his cheek where he'd been hit. Who would have guessed that angels had such tempers? He'd have to watch what he said from now on.

But back to where he was right then. The shelves that were filled with beautiful handmade toys just a few weeks prior were now desolate, broken, or covered with dust. Broken toys lay strewn about the floor, and all the windows had been shattered. For all appearances, this shop hadn't been used in years. Could he have come to the wrong place? No, there was the glass case that he'd been imprisoned in. A shudder ran down his spine at the memory.

"Mom," Ed said, walking through the debris on the floor. "What happened here?"

"I don't know, sweetheart," replied Trisha, "It wasn't like this when you were here, was it?"

"Not at all!" Ed exclaimed, "This place was in pristine condition!"

Trisha didn't say anything more as she paced around the room. Both of them were incredibly confused about the situation. They had not been forewarned of the complications of this case, so what was going on? After awhile, Trisha stopped in front of a wall and stared at it for awhile. Ed turned to look at her, but said nothing, as he hadn't a clue as to what she was doing. She then raised her rand up in front of her body and held it in place for several silent moments.

Finally, she spoke. "Demonic energy."

"What?" said Ed.

Trisha blinked silently a couple times, and then slowly turned to face Ed. "Had he ever had complications with the spirit world before?"

"Yeah…" said Ed with a shrug, "From what I understand, that was why I was sealed in that doll body. My presence made him panic."

"Oh dear…" said Trisha, turning back to the wall. "This is out of my jurisdiction, sweetheart. I'll have to report this to the proper authorities and then get an extension to complete this mission once the demonic entities are taken care of."

Edward's shoulders slumped. "You mean there's nothing you can do?"

Trish shook her head sadly. "A Christmas angel brings peace and harmony to the world, particularly around the Christmas season. They never fight. This one's out of my hands."

"So," Ed sighed and brought his hand up to his forehead so that his fingers were rubbing his bangs, "What should we do?"

"Like I said," Trisha said, placing her hands on her hips and staring at the wall, somewhat dismayed, "I'll report this case and apply for an extension so that you can still complete this case when the demonic forces are out of the way. In the meantime, I'll get you another simple case to fulfill."

"Um…okay…" Ed wrapped his arms around himself. He felt rather awkward, to say the least, but he didn't know what to do about it. He absolutely hated not being able to do anything about a situation like this, and would have yelled at anybody else, but he couldn't do so to his own mother.

"Come on," Trisha said gently and grabbed Ed's wrist. Within moments, they had both vanished from the toy shop and had simultaneously arrived at the angel headquarters building. Edward still thought it odd how structured everything was in this world. His perception of angels had always been of winged people that sat around on clouds playing harps all day. But this…this was very much like the world he had just come from. The people here, well, had a life.

"You wait here, Edward," said Trisha, patting the new angel's hand, "I'll be back in a minute."

Ed nodded and Trisha disappeared through the magnificent golden door on the front of the building. He sighed and thrust his hands in his pocket, pockets that appeared in his robe because he desired them to. Just for the sake of doing something to pass the time, he started turning around and around, looking at the scenery as it flew by his gaze, wondering if it was possible to get dizzy in this form.

"You're new here, aren't you?"

Edward stopped spinning and turned to face what appeared to be a senior angel, as the colors of his robe and wings were very vibrant. He nodded his head in response to this senior's question, not quite sure what else to say. It was hard to figure out at times how to be polite in angel society.

The man smiled and extended a hand to Edward, which he hesitantly took. Angels didn't normally shake hands, he'd noticed. That was a human gesture. Maybe this being was trying to make him feel more comfortable?

"I'll tell you my name, but you probably couldn't pronounce it at your current stage of development," said the angel with a twinkle in his eye, "You can just call me Bob until you learn how to pronounce angel names."

"Okay, um…thank you…Bob," there was just no way around the awkwardness about being suddenly thrust into a new society, "If you don't mind my asking, what kind of angel are you?"

The senior angel let out a hearty chuckle at that question, which, oddly enough, Ed understood why. One should be able to tell the different angels by their robes and wings, but he wasn't experienced enough yet. This being wore a blue robe with gold trim, and he had white wings with gold tips to match his robe.

"I'm an angel of Time," said the man, "I can look at any individual and tell who they've been and who they will be, and I can even travel back and forth in the dimension of time."

"Wow…" Ed thought aloud before he realized he had spoken. "Uh…" trying to change the focus from his blundering to his curiosity, "What do you get when you look at me?"

"Well now," said Bob as he rolled his eyes back into his head, giving him an appearance of concentrating on something, "In your past, I see a very trying life for you and your brother after your mother died. You tried to bring her back, and when that didn't work, you joined the military to undo your mistake."

Edward was speechless, which Bob had apparently caught onto and released another hearty laugh. "That's only summarizing what I see, but I didn't want to bore you with a long speech."

Ed swallowed, feeling that awkward feeling again, but this time accompanied by a sense of awe. "And…what do you see in my future?"

Bob smiled, then without a word, stood up, touched Ed's nose with his finger, and then walked off. Ed got the message. He wasn't supposed to know about his own future before experiencing it.

"Okay, sweetheart, I'm back." Ed jerked his head away from the retreating Time angel and watched as his mother walked up to him and handed him a folder. "There weren't many easy positions to take, but I managed to find you a guardian angel position for a few days."

Ed opened the folder and began rifling through the various paperwork inside of it to gain some sort of perspective on his new case. Trisha continued speaking, "His normal angel has to go on leave for a few earth days to attend an angel advancement class, so you'll be subbing for her. All you have to do is watch your charge, and if he gets into any real trouble, report it to the authorities so that they can dispatch help."

"What makes you think I can take on a case without someone watching my back?" said Ed, still looking through the papers.

"Well, you knew this person in life, so you know his habits and-"

She was interrupted by a loud wail from Edward as he slapped his hand to his forehead and staggered back. A piece of paper slipped out of his grasp and drifted to the ground. On it was written the name of his charge: Roy Mustang.

**_I don't know where this story's going, but I'm sure that my crazy spirit guide does, hehe. Leave some reviews and tell us what you think, lol. Suggestions are welcome too, if you have any. I'm not the only one who takes them, believe it or not, my spirit guide does as well, hehe. He sure took a major suggestion in the writing of "My Body, Your Soul" that totally changed how it ended. I don't even remember how it was going to end anymore, hehe. It ended awesomely though...and for some reason, all his stories end happily, while most of mine end sad...what's with that, anyway? Hehe. Anyway, hope to see you all back here soon. Take care!_**


	2. Chapter 2

**_Wow, popular, aren't we? Darn him, he gets all the popular stories, hehe. Maybe when he was being a jerk the other week and saying he was the better writer had something to it. No, forget I said that. He's not gonna get THAT much credit from ME! Hehe...glad you're all liking the story though._**

**_Disclaimer: I just asked Ed if I owned him, and he said, "Not on your life," so I guess I don't own him._**

Grumble grumble grumble, "Of all the rotten luck," grumble grumble grumble some more, "Why did I have to become that sick pervert's protector?" He kicked the air to emphasize his words, almost wishing that Roy's face had been in the way. He needed something to take out his aggression on, especially now that he wasn't even allowed to swear. If no one could see or hear him without his desiring them to, what did it matter? The people in charge of making up those rules were just being arbitrary. Arbitrary! It wasn't fair.

Ed stopped his internal ranting long enough to take a deep breath and try to calm down. He was still quite grateful to Al for getting him out of that doll form, but who would have guessed that being an angel could be so hard? Thank goodness he had waited until his mother had flown off onto another mission before letting himself explode. He didn't particularly want her to see him this way, even though she'd probably seen it many times already without his realizing it. It was just more awkward when he KNEW she was there than if he hadn't a clue.

The young angel finally sighed and pulled the papers out of his folder to look at them again. The sight of Roy Mustang's name made him cringe a bit, but he knew that he really didn't have much say in the matter. He had to take whatever cases were assigned to him, even if he hated them, if he hoped to become a full-fledged angel someday. If only there was an easier way.

Ed pulled out the paper with Roy's name and picture on it and stared at it. "Okay, Colonel Whatsit," he said in an attempt to replace his swear word of choice with something that would be acceptable in angel society, "I don't like this any more than you do, so you'd better not give me any trouble for the next few days." He then shoved the paper back into his folder and vanished.

After making a quick stop at Winry's to explain why he wouldn't be around much for a few days, he found himself boredly leaning against the wall behind the Colonel's desk while the man was busy signing paperwork. Quite odd, Roy actually DOING his paperwork for once. What had make him change his mind about working?

A few minutes after his arrival, someone walked through the door. Ed instantly recognized the person as Lieutenant Hawkeye. Nothing out of the ordinary there…except maybe for the fact that a concerned expression was plastered on her face. Yeah, come to think of it, that was quite odd for her to be showing any emotion whatsoever.

"Colonel, forgive the intrusion, but I felt I had to speak to you," said Hawkeye.

"Speak then," Roy said unemotionally without lifting his head or his pen from his paperwork.

Apparently frustrated from not getting the attention she deserved, Hawkeye planted the palms of her hands on the desk with enough force to make the contact become audible. "Colonel, you didn't take your Christmas leave."

"I didn't need it," said Roy, still showing no emotion.

"You've been working yourself to death lately, sir. You should have taken your leave."

"Like I said, I didn't need it."

"Why didn't you at least take off a few hours to spend with your family, sir?"

"My son is dead, Lieutenant."

Riza sighed and slowly stood back up, apparently having somewhat resigned from trying to talk reason into the man. Ed could certainly understand why. When Roy had his mind made up, he was more stubborn than a mule. Riza continued standing in place for a few moments in silence before venturing to speak again.

"Sir, Alphonse is still alive."

"I know."

"Why don't you visit him, sir?"

"I can't bring myself to face him with his brother gone."

"But he IS your other son, sir."

Roy finally put down his pen, though he didn't life his head from his paperwork still. He brought his hands up to the top of his desk and laced his fingers together. Again, he remained silent for a few moments, and then at last lifted his head to look at his subordinate.

"I was like a father to those boys, albeit, not a very good one. They were depending on me to help them find what they needed, and I failed them. It's my fault that Edward is now dead. For that, I can't forgive myself, and I cannot face Alphonse."

Ed felt his jaw slowly dropping as he watching this side of his former boss unfold. He had always thought that Roy was just being sadistic and manipulative. Who would have guessed that he had deeply cared for him and his brother? He almost felt a twinge of pity for the man. Almost. He wouldn't admit to actually pitying the man just yet.

"Sir," said Lieutenant Hawkeye as she once again stepped closer to Roy's desk. "You're not at fault for Edward's death. You should stop-"

"Yes I AM!" Roy yelled rather impulsively, the sudden burst of emotion terrifying everyone in the room, both seen and unseen. Roy buried his face in the palms of his hands, and Ed watched in utter shock as the rest of the man's mask fell off. Roy's shoulders started convulsing, and the movements were soon accompanied by audible sobs. The Colonel was crying? Over him? No way!

Riza locked her lips shut to keep herself from saying anything more to make the situation worse. She had apparently had to deal with episodes like this lately. One had to admire her courage. If only there was a way for an angel-in-training to help. Well, maybe there was. Ed pulled out his folder again and began flipping through the papers to figure out what he was allowed to do.

"I told him not to die under me!" Roy yelled between sobs. Riza remained silent, but faithfully present. Edward cringed. He never would have guessed that his death would have caused the Colonel so much pain. Maybe he could just appear and speak to him? No, that was against the rules. Without being given a loophole, there wasn't much he could do.

"Edward, can you ever forgive me?" Roy again said between sobs. Ed's eyebrows shot up at the unexpected question being directed toward him. Surely Roy didn't know that he was actually there…but he had directed a question to him, all the same. He wasn't sure if that counted as a loophole or not, but maybe the authorities would let him get away with it. After all, Roy had ALMOST asked for intervention, hadn't he?

There wasn't a moment to lose. Edward closed his eyes and focused on lowering the vibration of his energy to an earthly level. He was sort of used to doing this by then, since he kept popping in to see Al and Winry, but he didn't particularly enjoy the feeling. Lowering his energy vibration kind of made him feel…slow.

All the same, a moment later, Lieutenant Hawkeye happened to glance up and notice the violent eruption of light coming from behind Roy's desk that Ed's materialization would have inevitably caused. "Colonel!" she yelled as she pointed behind him, fear written in her voice. Roy slowly picked his head up out of his hands and turned around to see what Riza was pointing at. The sight of the mass of light behind him nearly made his face turn white.

Suddenly, the light took human form, a recognizable human form. Edward stood there staring at the two, arms folded across his chest and a slight hint of a smile on his face. His wings were folded up near his sides, causing the joints of the wings to extend a foot or two above his head. His white robe and ribbon trimmings were mildly dancing in the ethereal wind, an odd sight, as there was no wind in the room.

When it looked like the two individuals had partially recovered from the shock, he took the opportunity to speak his business. "If I tell you I forgive you, will you stop crying like a baby?" Not a very polite way to talk to someone grieving in general…but this was Edward and Roy. Rudeness in their speech was the number one identifying factor between the two.

The corners of Roy's lips turned up and he sniffed. "…E-Edward?"

Edward uncrossed his arms and put his hands on his hips. "Yes, it's me, dumb…my." The angel lightly smacked himself on the cheek for nearly swearing again. True, he was alone right then, so it seemed, but who knew who was listening in? "Colonel, look, you didn't kill me, and you weren't responsible for my death, so get over it! I've been assigned as your guardian angel for the next few days while your regular is taking a class, and I don't want to have to see you blubbering over me the whole time." Okay, he had probably said too much, WAY too much. Roy had seriously not needed to know all that, but oh well, what was said was said now and he couldn't change it. HE wasn't an angel of time, after all. For that matter, when was he going to get to apprentice himself to one of them? That sounded like an interesting job.

Roy finally allowed himself to smile and the tears were starting to dry up. Actually, Ed even detected a trace of laughter in his voice as he said, "You're my guardian angel? How ironic is that?"

Edward waved him off as he turned to face the wall so that he wouldn't have to look at Roy's ugly mug. "Yeah, well, don't rub it in, dip-" He once again had to catch himself in the middle of a swear word and decided to just leave it at "dip". Man, this no-swearing rule was HARD to follow.

Edward turned back around to see Roy actually laughing. Yeah, the idiot had probably caught on that he was trying not to swear, the b------, er, jerk. Sure, laugh, ha ha, very funny. Immaturely, Ed stuck his tongue out at Roy and folder his arms across his chest again, which only caused further laughter at his expense, joined by Hawkeye this time. Ed rolled his eyes.

"Okay, I hate to break up the happy little family reunion, but I'm supposed to be watching you while invisible. So…if you need me, just call." With that comment, Ed started to vanish back into the ether, but then suddenly re-materialized. "And call my brother…and take a vacation, for crying out loud!" After some more laughs and a mocking salute from Roy, Ed vanished once again.

When Ed was fully gone, Hawkeye turned to face Roy once again. "Well, sir, I think you have a job to do."

Roy sighed and smiled. "You're right." He picked up the phone and spoke into the receiver, "Hello? Yes, I need to connect with Alphonse Elric at the Rockbell Residence."

**_Okay, hope you enjoyed that. Heh heh...while I have a clue about the plot, I honestly don't know where exactly this story is going. Like a number of my other stories, this one is channelled, heh...so yeah...I have clues, but don't know for sure. You'll have to blame my crazy, insane spirit guide for this one. ((Points at the crazy idiot, who decided to just bask in the extra attention he's receiving rather than taking offense.)) Anyway, feel free to leave some reviews and let us know what you think. I enjoy reading them, even if I'm only channelling the story, hehe. ((shakes head)) What have I gotten myself into, agreeing to write for HIM?_**


	3. Chapter 3

**_Wow, I still can't believe the overnight popularity of this fic, hehe. I guess that people have really been waiting for this one. ((snickers)) Yeah, I'm pretty jealous. Where did he get these writing skills anyway? It's not fair! I'm gonna go find some dark corner to cry in. ((But then he'd probably just come and bug me and say, "When are you gonna write up the next chapter?" so I couldn't stay long, hehe.)) Oh, and in answer to one of the reviewers who asked me why I didn't just substitute Edward's swear words with "BEEP", it's because my spirit guide really hates me censoring swear words, hehe. However, he won't force me to type them out. This way of making Edward try to swear but not being allowed to was sort of a compromise, hehe._**

**_Disclaimer: Ummmmmm...what?_**

Roy Mustang tossed and turned in bed that night. Sleep kept eluding him, no matter what he tried. Was he just too excited to sleep? Maybe, since Edward's appearance to him had been quite exciting. He would have thought he'd been hallucinating from the stress at the time if Riza had not witnessed the incident as well. Even Alphonse had gotten excited upon hearing the news though the boy had informed him that Edward had been regularly dropping by anyway. Apparently, those brothers were so close that even if they saw each other frequently, they still got a thrill out of hearing what the other had been up to in their absence.

It was no use. The sandman couldn't seem to find him tonight, so he finally gave in and sat up in his bed. Beads of sweat were running down his face. There had just been too much stimulation that day. Maybe he should take Riza's and Edward's advice and actually take a vacation. He HAD been overworking himself since Edward's death, after all…so maybe it was high time he slowed down. Being a workaholic just wasn't for him. Roy smile. Heck, he was known for shirking as much of his work as he could.

The man sighed. He was bored, restless, and a bit lonely. Hadn't Ed said that if he needed anything, to just call? It might tick the boy off to be called to just keep him company, but he wasn't above the concept of annoying the little angel. It sounded like fun. "Edward!" he called, "Edward, are you out there?"

Another flash of light like the one that had occurred in his office, and said angel was once again standing before him, arms crossed as before. "What do you want?" he said a bit rudely.

Roy smiled. This had the potential of being quite fun. "You haven't cussed at me today."

Edward's eyebrows lowered into an angry scowl and he turned his head away as though a pompous queen. "Shut up!"

Colonel Mustang both audibly and visibly chuckled at the sight of Edward's reaction. Oh, how he had missed this playful banter that would go between them, even if the fun was only one-sided. He finally got control of his laughter and turned once again to face the boy, an evil Roy smirk on his face. "You're not allowed to swear, are you?"

Edward turned his face toward Roy, still carrying an annoyed look on it, and then turned it back away from him and let out an audible growl before saying, "What's it to you?" Of course, that remark made Roy have to laugh all the more, since by saying that, he was practically acknowledging that Roy's observation was correct.

Roy finally decided to be a little nicer; since it probably wasn't a good idea to tick one's guardian angel off too much, but he figured that it would be alright to still annoy him a little bit. His ominous grin relaxed a little bit so that it wasn't quite so irritating, and he said, "So…what would happen if they caught you swearing?"

Edward shrugged while continuing to keep his arms crossed, but the expression on his face had finally relaxed a bit, so that the tone of his voice wasn't so bitter. "I don't know. A slap on the face, a lecture, a demotion…supposing I can get any lower than this."

"I see," said Roy, finally starting to treat the boy like a human being somewhat…even if Edward wasn't one anymore, "So you're a trainee, huh?"

"An Angel-in-Training," Ed corrected.

"Right," said Roy, "So what are you training for? I mean…what specific job are you looking into?"

Edward finally uncrossed his arms, but they only made it as far down as his hips. "I don't know yet," he said while shifting his body a quarter turn toward the wall and raising up his right arm to aid his speech. "I came into their ranks prematurely, so they don't know where to put me." Ed closed his eyes and briefly sighed. "And that Bob won't tell me anything useful."

Roy's eyebrow rose up in a questioning look. "Bob?"

"An angel of time," said Ed, "I'll probably have to try out for that position too…it sounds interesting."

Roy brought his hand up to his chin and gently began rubbing it with his index finger. "No, you don't seem much like a guardian of time to me." He stopped rubbing his chin and looked up into the boy's face once again. "You remind me more of a warrior."

* * *

"Completely out of the question!" snapped the angel authority at Edward. He staggered back a couple steps at the unexpected outburst, but soon found his footing and approached the angel again. 

"I wouldn't have thought to suggest is otherwise, but my charge said…"

"I don't care who said it! You shouldn't have been talking to your charge anyway!" yelled the angel.

Edward thrust his hands into his pockets and glared at the angel in charge. "That cased called for it. I got good marks on my record for doing so."

"Whatever!" said the angel in an exasperated tone of voice, "So you know how to break the rules properly as someone's personal guardian, that doesn't mean you can be a warrior. Rule-bending is a luxury one can't afford on the battlefront."

Edward growled, but stood his ground. "Just put me in one fight, and I'll show you what I can do."

"Sorry, id, but warrior training is a long and laborious process. You haven't even been with us for one earth week. We don't even know if you can commit to anything yet."

"But if you were to take a look at my life on earth-"

"Your life doesn't count, kid, don't you get that?" The angel stopped, tilted her head back, and sighed. "In case you forgot, you kind of DIED from the goings on in that life."

"THAT WAS BECAUSE I GOT SICK!"

"DON'T YOU RAISE YOUR VOICE TO ME!"

Amazingly, Edward shut up and just decided to listen to whatever his superior had to say. "Okay, kid, look, I'll make you a deal. I've never lived a human life, so I don't know what it's like to want to act 'all grown up' and prove yourself. The warriors have to regularly tend to their weapons and keep them in pristine condition, read to go to battle at any moment. I'm going to assign you to cleaning duty. It's extremely boring, but it is warrior work, okay?"

Ed had to think on that one for a moment. It wasn't quite what he'd wanted, but it was a step in the right direction. He nodded his head that yes, he'd accept the position for the time being.

"And your buddy who's been having you call him Bob has a book that describes all the different angel positions there are, even the ones that haven't been filled yet in the history of earth. I want you to go through that and see if you can fine a more realistic short-term goal."

Edward opened his mouth to protest, but his superior held up her hand for silence, so Edward complied by shutting his mouth. "If your heart's really set on being a warrior, there's not probably with that becoming a long-term goal of yours, but for the short-term, you need to find a different job. Warriors don't become warriors overnight."

Edward didn't particularly like that, but he kept his mouth shut and nodded anyway. There was no saying no to this woman, that much was obvious. Strange, he was starting to miss Roy.

"And whatever you do, don't miss your angel development classes…which I think you have on right now as we speak, so beat it!" She forcefully shoved Edward aside and then walked away to wherever she had to get to next.

Ed shook his head and said, "Yes, ma'am!" before starting to walk over to the angel school to take his class. What was her problem, anyway?

**_Hope that you liked that. Now review before this pesky little ghosty guy starts bugging me some more. Heh heh heh...and he needs to stop fussing about being called "little"...he's five foot six...that's not THAT little! Hehe. Anyway, review, and you'll make two very happy campers...once he quits pouting._**


	4. Chapter 4

**_Phew! Took me a few days to type up a new chapter, even though I was hoping to update this fic remarkably quick like the others by my spirit guide. Heh, suffice it to say that the past few days have been nothing but drama drama drama. It's amazing that I'm still updating at all, considering how I usually quit writing when I get stressed, heh. Don't know how I'm doing it. Blame my spirit guide, hehe._**

**_Heh, and I need to clarify a couple things I confused some people with. First off, no, Ed's not 5'6" in this fic. Well, maybe he is...I hadn't really bothered to think about it. I made him about 18 or 19 in "The Wooden Doll" ((have to re-check)), so maybe he is, but I wasn't really thinking that way. My spirit guide is 5'6", and loves to make a big fuss about it, hehe. That's what I was referring to._**

**_Second, when I say "channeling", I could mean different things, since the words has several different meanings. Sometimes I do let my spirit guide come into my body and type or speak to others, but he always asks permission to do that ((unless I'm sleepwalking anyway, then he sometimes thinks of that as fair game, hehe)). In this story, however, he's just telling me the story as I go, and I'm writing it down in the best way I know how, trying to translate spirit speak into English. Heh, not always easy, but I try. Sometimes I translate a bit off, and he usually lets me know. For instance, in the last chapter when the superior angel shouted, "I don't care who it is!" my spirit guide had actually intended for me to write "I don't care if it's Santa Claus!" but I hadn't caught on to that right away, hehe. Oops, oh well. So don't worry, he's not a control freak, he just likes writing stories._**

Edward was hunched over his textbook scroll while the teacher angel gave her dissertation on Archangels and their various positions, but Edward seemed to have forgotten that he should have been paying attention. That is, supposing he had ever thought it in the first place. He had carefully slipped an additional piece of paper overtop his textbook scroll and was busying himself by doodling transmutation circles all over it. Was it still possible to perform alchemy as an angel? Would he ever get the chance to find out?

A ruler smacked down on Edward's feather pen, and the startled boy looked up into the annoyed face of his teacher. She pulled the ruler back away from his scroll and proceeded to smack it in her other hand. "Edward…Would you mind telling us which Archangel it was who first announced the birth of Christ?"

Ed grimaced and scratched the back of his head. Religion. He hated it, but now that he was an angel, it seemed that he couldn't escape it. "Um…" he began cautiously, and brought his hand back down to the paper, "…Michael?"

The ruler came flying down, fast as lightning, and struck the boy's hand. "Gabriel!" said the teacher, "Gabriel, get it straight! Gabriel is the messenger, not Michael." Ed pulled his hand away from underneath the ruler and shook it to try and ease the sting somewhat. This caused the teacher angel to look down and notice the extra piece of paper lying atop the scroll. She picked it up. "And what, pray tell, is this?"

Edward slinked back in his chair, anticipating the next use of the ruler any moment. "…Alchemy…"

"Something you practiced during your life on earth?"

Edward nodded.

The teacher gave him a glare. "Up here we don't use alchemy. We rely solely on the power of God." She proceeded to crumple up the paper into a little ball and then threw it back to Edward. "Get rid of these human notions, and get back to your studies." The teacher then turned and stalked off to resume her lecture.

Edward sighed and carefully uncrumpled the paper to have one last look at the circles written on it. He was expected to just give this up? This study that had consumed his entire life on earth? How could he just give up everything he loved? Wasn't the use of science just as much 'the power of God' as some unexplainable angelic powers? Edward shook his head in resignation, crumpled the paper back up, and threw it into the trash bin.

* * *

"So, this is the first time you've ever cleaned angel weapons?" Edward nodded at the inquiry, so the man before him continued. "Well then, it's pretty simple to learn, but it takes a lot of energy. You simple take this cloth," the angel proceeded to hold up a white cloth for Edward to see, "And you run it down the sword like this, channeling your energy through it. The cloth will catch all the demonic residues in it so that they won't affect you. When it turns dark purple or black, that means it's full, so you just throw it into the renewal fire like this." The angel then tossed a slightly used cleansing cloth into a pillar of fire that happened to be nearby, and then held up his empty hands for emphasis. "See? Easy." 

Edward nodded. "I think I've got it." He reached for the next sword in the pile, but his hand was quickly caught by the other angel and pulled away. "Never…NEVER touch an angel's weapon that hasn't been properly cleansed." The man handed a new cloth to Edward. "Wipe off the handle before you pick it up. Sometimes when a warrior slices through a demon, the fragments of that demon splatter every which way. We've lost a few of our best warriors to the dark side that way."

"And there's nothing you can do about it?" asked Edward, taking the cloth and beginning to wipe down the handle.

The other angel shrugged. "What can we do? They were some of our best warriors, but they've been tainted by evil, so now their incredible skills are being used against us." Edward chose to remain silent on the subject while he thought, so the other angel simply came over to him and with a slap on the back, said, "Just be careful not to let it happen to you," and then walked off to fulfill other duties.

It didn't take long to get the hand of the new job, though it took a lot more energy than he would have expected. No wonder the warriors like to have someone else clean their weapons if possible, since they needed to conserve their energy for battle. Channeling his energy through the cloth for every single weapon took a toll on him, however, and he had to stop and rest after awhile to regain his strength.

Edward pushed the most recently cleaned sword aside and leaned back against a fence to rest. He closed his eyes, though he didn't fall asleep, since angels never slept, and tried to practice some of the meditation techniques he'd been learning lately in school.

His face soon grew very solemn, not because he was relaxed, but because he perceived things in this meditative state that he wasn't used to perceiving. It sounded like someone was calling for him…but who would be calling for HIM? He was just an angel-in-training. All the same, he continued trying to listen to the voice. It was hard to make out, because the individual sounded like they were half-asleep…which they probably were if they were calling for him rather than someone more capable. Maybe he should report this to the authorities, since if someone was calling while they were asleep and vulnerable, they were probably getting attacked by evil entities in their sleep.

He was just about to stand up to go and find someone suitable to look into the case when the voice suddenly said three words very clearly, "Brother, save me!"

Ed's eyes watered up and he bounded to his feet in spite of his lack of energy. Al was being attacked in his sleep? Why Al, of all people? No, he wasn't going to let anyone or anything hurt his little brother. He grabbed the sword that he had just cleaned, which was almost too heavy for him when he was this low on energy, and his shimmered away.

A moment later, he was in Al's bedroom, gripping the sword tightly. He wasn't allowed to be there when he had duties to perform, and he certainly wasn't allowed to do what he was doing without the proper training to go along with it, but this was his little brother that he was dealing with. He couldn't just stand by and do nothing.

"Al," said Ed, stepping closer to the bed Al was sleeping in, "What's the matter?" Al himself wasn't moving, which was to be expected during the paralysis state of sleep, but he was moaning somewhat, which was amazing that he could even accomplish that. He had to be in severe distress to be able to make any movement whatsoever while he was paralyzed from sleep.

Ed's eyebrows knitted together in a concerned expression, and he began to look around the room with his spiritual sight to try and find the source of the problem, since Al obviously couldn't tell him.

Just then, Ed caught a shadow out of the corner of his eye. He turned to look, but whatever he had seen had vanished by then. Another shadow flicked on the other side of Ed's vision, and he turned to observe that too. No luck, but he knew that something, or someone, in this room was bothering Al.

All at once, Ed's spirit eyes fully adjusted to the earth plane again, and all the shadows in the room suddenly sprang to life. He saw them creeping along the walls, oozing out from under the bed, and towering over Al's body, clawing at his chest as though trying to get in.

Edward was enraged. How dare these entities attack his little brother while he was helplessly sleeping? In spite of not having gained all his energy back, he felt himself surge with what seemed to be enough energy to do the job. He carefully raised the sword over his head. This sword wouldn't cut through matter, thank goodness, so it wouldn't kill Al, but it might temporarily disconnect him from his body.

Ed took a deep breath and brought the sword down as fast as he could. With remarkable speed, the shadow creatures scattered to get out of the path of the oncoming angel sword. Ed picked it up and swung it again, and again, slicing up the shadow entities and splattering their contents every which way. "Don't. Touch. My. Brother!" he shouted in between swings.

The entities were growing fewer and fewer, and Ed had indeed detached Al's spirit from his body, so the little brother was witness to the whole thing, though Ed knew it was only temporary. He continued to swing his sword relentlessly, finding that the more he swung it, the angrier he got, and the angrier he got, the more violently he swung the sword.

"Brother, calm down, they're gone!" pleaded Al.

"Shut up, Al!" Ed yelled back, completely startling Al with his attitude, and startling himself for that matter. Finally, Ed felt a hand grasp his sword-wielding wrist, and he turned his face to look up into the face of one of the warrior angels.

"That's quite enough," said the angel.

"My brother was being attacked!"

"We know, we'll take care of the rest, now just…"

"No! There were so many shadows! There were…"

"You've been contaminated by demon blood, so you're not acting like yourself," said the angel, patiently, "Now let us take you to the hospital so that we can save you."

"But my little brother is…"

"We'll take care of you little brother for the time being. Just calm down and let us help YOU!"

Ed continued to struggle in the angel's arms. "No! My brother! My little brother is…My…" He didn't get the chance to finish whatever it was that he was trying to say, because right then, the toxic residues had become too much for him, and he passed out.

**_Heh, okay, finally got this chapter finished! Yeah! Leave some reviews, and I'll try to get another one finished soon, heh. Once again, I'll remind you that suggestions are always welcome. Just because this is my spirit guide's story doesn't mean he won't take suggestions. He does sometimes, hehe. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this, and hope to see you soon!_**


	5. Chapter 5

**_Whew! This chapter took me a little longer to type up, hehe. Funny, I used to type up incredibly long chapters and not sweat it, but I guess I'm not used to it anymore. I'll have to get back in the swing of things. Oh well, at least I'm updating at all, and frequently, hehe. Hope you enjoy this chapter._**

**_Disclaimer: Moo. I don't know why I said that, even though it was irrelevant to the fact that I don't own FullMetal Alchemist. All the same, it's fun. Say Moo._**

Edward groaned and slowly opened his eyes. Light streamed in, temporarily blinding him. He made a move to try and block the light with his hand, but his hand wouldn't obey him. Where was he? Then he remembered. "Al!" he yelled as he tried to sit up, but found that the rest of his body was bound in the same way his hand was. What was going on?

"Brother? Are you awake?"

Ed turned his head to look in the direction that the sound had come from. As his eyes began adjusting to the light in the room, he could make out Al's form lying down on a bed nearby. That was a relief. At least his little brother was okay.

"Al? Where am I?" Ed asked and once again tried to sit up, but failed.

"You're in an angel hospital, Brother," said Al.

Edward didn't even try to hide the confusion on his face at hearing that. Being in the hospital after the events of the previous night made sense, but…

"Al…what are you doing here?...And why am I bound to the bed?"

Al propped himself up so that Ed could see him better and rested his chin on his hand. "We both needed healing after that fight last night, Brother. We both got contaminated with demon blood, but you got the worst of it."

Ed sighed and turned his head so that he was looking straight up at the ceiling. "I suppose I did…now my hopes of being a warrior are probably shot."

Al shrugged. "I don't know anything about angel politics, Brother."

Ed turned to face Al again. "So…do you know why they bound me to the bed?"

"Apparently, angel react differently to contamination than human souls do," said Al, "They wanted to make sure that you didn't turn demonic and attack everyone, I guess."

Ed rolled his eyes. "If I haven't turned demon on them by now, shouldn't that be enough indication that I'm not going to?"

Al shrugged again and lay back down. Just then, a couple healer angels walked into the room. "Oh Edward, you're awake?" said the female angel.

"Good," said the male, "Now we can proceed to the final stage."

"And get me out of my bonds?" Edward asked hopefully.

"And get you out of your bonds," said the male angel.

The two angels came and stood one on either side of Edward's bed, and the n stretched their hands across the boy's body to clasp each other's hands. Edward felt the connection start a current of energy flowing through them. He looked and could now see that the bonds keeping him in bed were now visible, as he hadn't been able to see them before. They looked kind of like ropes made of pure light. As annoying as it was to be bound by them, the sight of them was incredible.

"We're going to blast a lot of light through your being, Edward," said the female angel, "It might not feel good, but just be brave for us. It won't last long."

"The light will help us find out if there are any hitchhikers remaining in your aura and bring them out," said the male.

"I understand," said Edward, "Just get it over with so I can be released."

Both healer angels smiled and then turned their attention back to Edward's angel body and closed their eyes. The frequency of the energy in his immediate environment began to increase and Ed found himself squirming a bit out of discomfort. He wouldn't have expected that angel light would make him uncomfortable at all, no matter what the dosage, but maybe this much this fast would make anyone uncomfortable. They had warned him that it might not feel good.

The vibrational level of the light continued to rise, and Ed had now moved beyond squirming to wriggling. This had better get over with soon, because this procedure was most uncomfortable.

As the amount of light being shot through Edward continued to go up and white light became increasingly the only thing that filled his field of vision, Edward discovered that he was frantically convulsing and trying to break free of his bonds. The light hurt worse than those bonds did now.

Finally, Edward raised his voice and shouted, "Stop it! Stop it! I can't take it anymore!" The two angels paid no heed and continued with their healing practice, so Ed continued writhing in pain and screaming at them to stop it. They wouldn't stop. Why wouldn't they stop? Couldn't they see how much pain he was in?

"May the powers of hell be unleashed upon you!" Edward gasped. Had he seriously just said those words? Even when he was human and could feel free to swear, he never would have wished a curse on someone. Finally, it clicked. There WAS someone hitchhiking in his aura, and it wasn't Edward who was getting hurt by the light, it was the hitchhiker.

"Get out of me!" Edward yelled aloud, not sure if that was a good idea to do so or not, but he did it anyway.

The two healer angels finally looked up from what they were doing, though they continued to focus the light onto Edward. "That's it, Edward," said the female angel, "Fight it."

So, they had known all along that he still had an entity, or at least, part of an entity, inhabiting his aura? That would explain why they had warned him of the pain and also why they ignored his please to have them stop. How they seemed to be able to tell the difference between him and the hitchhiker when they were speaking, he didn't know, but they obviously knew what they were doing. They had been trained for it.

"Hold on, Edward," said the female angel, just before the energy level dramatically increased to an outrageously unbearable level. Ed found himself screaming in a voice so high-pitched and loud that he wasn't sure how he was even making that sound. The pain he was experiencing was like nothing he'd ever felt before. It was like every part of him was being torn apart and simultaneously burned. He was dying. He was already dead, he knew, but he was dying. He had to be.

All of a sudden, the painful sensation rose up through his chest and hovered above him. The screaming continued, but it was no longer he that was screaming. A shadow creature was floating in midair, just a couple inches above his own person. The healer angels had not slackened their pace, and were now focusing their attention on the creature in the air. While it continued screaming, its size slowly began to diminish, until finally, there wasn't a speck of shadow anywhere. There was just pure light.

Edward breathed out a huge sigh of relief. He felt so light now. Who would have guessed that he had been carrying around an evil entity in his aura? Apparently, these angel doctors had known, and he was grateful.

"How do you feel now?" said the female angel as she lowered her hands and cut off the light.

"Much better," said Ed with another sigh, "Thank you."

"You're pretty strong," said the male angel, "There hadn't been much we could do until you evicted that being from your body."

Edward looked confused. "Didn't YOU evict it from my body?"

Both angels turned to look at him and said, in unison, "No, YOU did."

The female angel stepped forward and laid a hand on his forehead. "That's why we have such a hard time saving many of our warriors. They aren't strong enough to fight the demons themselves."

"Both you and your brother are incredibly strong," said the male angel. He then waved his hand and the light bonds disappeared from around Edward's person. "You're now cured, so you're free to go, but I'd advise you to rest up for a while first. You're still low on energy."

"Thanks," Ed said again. The two healers offered Ed a polite nod and then left the room. Ed rolled over on his side, since he was no longer bound, and rested his head on his pillow with a contented sigh.

"Congratulations, Brother, you made it."

Ed smiled. "Al, what did you have to go through when they healed you?"

Al smiled and propped himself up again to look at his brother. "Well, pretty much the same process, but I didn't react the way you did."

"No hitchhikers in your aura, huh?"

"No, I did have my own hitchhiker, just like you did," said Al. He licked his lips to think for a moment, and then said, "I guess the difference is mainly in WHAT we are. Human souls always have to deal with these sorts of things, so I guess they're easier to heal. I'm guessing that it's difficult to heal an angel when they get possessed by an evil entity, which would make it amazing how well you were able to fight it off."

Ed chuckled. "Heh, sure Al, put me up on a pedestal while the rest of angeldom hates me."

"They hate you?"

Oops, he hadn't meant to say that in front of Al. He'd better fix it, fast. "Ee, uh, no, no, they don't hate me…I, uh, was just using that as an expression…you know."

"Oh, okay," said Al.

"So what are you still doing here, anyway?" Ed asked, trying to change the subject, "Isn't Winry going to be awfully worried when she finds your body without any soul attached?"

Al smiled. "The doctors said that the one that took me out of my body has to put me back in."

Ed rolled his eyes and smacked his head. "So I've got to do it. I got the message." He threw aside the sheets on his bed and stepped up, being careful not to make himself get dizzy, as he was still recuperating.

Al protested, "But…shouldn't we wait for-"

"Why wait?" said Ed, "The sooner you get back to your body, the better."

All nodded and humbly grabbed Ed's robe as both of them vanished from the hospital room and then appeared in Al's bedroom back at home. Ed directed Al to go and climb back inside his body, even though Ed didn't have a clue as to how to get it to reattach.

The angel walked slowly over to where his little brother was lying down, hoping that something would come to him about what to do next. As he was putting one foot in front of the other, hands behind his back, looking at the floor, he spotted a mass of cut ropes on the floor surrounding Al. "Al, what are these ropes for?"

"Hmmm?" Al's astral form said from inside the body. That's right, Al couldn't move his body yet, and he was trying not to move his astral form either so that they two would be totally synchronized when he was bound back to his body. Ed would have to make sure not to disturb Al until he had succeeded, so as not to throw Al's attempts off.

Ed picked up one of the ropes, and his eyes widened. Now that he was holding it, he realized that it wasn't a physical object, it was ethereal, but it had been cut. Could these have been what were holding Al inside his body? It wouldn't hurt to find out.

"Okay Al, hold on, let me try something." Ed began picking up all the cut ends of the ropes and tying them back together around Al's body. Finally, when he had tied the last one, he told Al to try and sit up. The boy twitched for a few seconds as his body and soul got used to each other again, and then he sat up easily. That wasn't as hard as Ed had thought it was going to be. At least it didn't require scratching a blood seal into Al's neck.

"I'm back together now," Al said with a little laugh in his voice. "Thanks, Brother. Does this mean I get to keep my memories?"

"What do you mean?" asked Ed.

Al looked at his brother with a confused face. "Don't you know? They'd said that I'd seen too much, so they were going to erase my memories of your realm before I went back to my body."

"Eh heh," Ed reached up and scratched the back of his head. Oops again. "Well…just keep what you know to yourself, and everything should be fine."

"You sure?" Al asked.

"Positive! Since when have I ever been unsure of myself?" Ed crossed his arms and nodded for emphasis.

Al shook his head and smile a little as he cautiously said, 'You're unsure of yourself whenever you act like that."

Before Ed could react, Winry burst into the room. "Oh, Al, thank goodness! You'd been sleeping so long that I was starting to get worried!" She then noticed Ed's presence in the room. "And Ed's here too? Alright boys, what happened?" The girl folded her arms across her chest and propped herself against the door jam.

"Um…" said Al.

"Uh…" said Ed, but he was able to come up with more to say better than Al was. "Al here…just had an out-of-body experience again…and I had to bring him back." That should work, right? That much was true, at least.

Winry uncrossed her arms and shook her head. "Geez, you two always get me so worried. You never cease the drama, even when you're dead." She sent one more glare in the room at both boys and then turned around to head out of the room while shouting, "Come on, Al, lunch is on the table."

"You mean I missed breakfast?" Al asked as he carefully stood up.

"Yep," came the faraway voice.

Al shrugged and turned to look at his brother, who laughed. "Well, go and eat, Al. I'll be back later."

"Okay, seeya Brother," Al said while running out of the room.

Ed waved slightly, feeling worry creep over him about what would happen when he got back to his dimension, since he'd broken so many rules lately. "Seeya," he said, then took a deep breath and vanished.

**_Hope you enjoyed that. Leave me some reviews if you will, and I'll try to update soon! Thanks a bunch, and hope to see you soon._**


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